of her distinguished
husband; a wedding slipper, a dainty French fan; two handsome court
gowns, one of silver brocaded on white satin, the other of cream colored
taffeta, richly embroidered with dahlias in natural colors; her bonnet
and veil in which she welcomed Lafayette on his return to the States in
1824; her lorgnette, which must have added to the reputation she had for
dignity; her Astor piano and her silver service marked "J. M."

Of Monroe's personal possessions there are many. Here too is his court
dress with its rare old lace, cut-steel buttons and knee breeches, worn
at Napoleon's court; the quaint huge umbrella presented him by the City
of Boston on the occasion of Lafayette's return, with its original
covering, whale-bone ribs and ivory handle, all contributing to its
weight of seven and one-half pounds; his mahogany brass-bound dispatch
box in which his Louisiana Purchase papers were carried; his
silver-mounted duelling pistols, recalling that Monroe came near
fighting a duel with Alexander Hamilton; and other articles too numerous
to mention, including interesting historical letters by and to James
Monroe from the outstanding men of his day.

Perhaps the outstanding exhibit in the Law Office shrine, however, is
the desk on which Monroe signed the message to Congress which formed the
basis for the famous Monroe Doctrine. Mahogany, high, brass-bound, this
handsome desk forms a part of the furniture bought by the Monroes in
France, brought by them to this country in 1798, and now finally shown
in the little museum dedicated to their memory. The Monroes, being the
first to move into the rebuilt White House after the original one had
been burned by the British in the War of 1812, and being confronted with
empty rooms, took with them this lovely furniture. Still later, on
leaving the White House, the beloved possessions again went with them,
and it is to this fact that the happy privilege of the public to see
these things today can be attributed.

More than a hundred years later, a successor of Mrs. Monroe was to
express her patriotism and interest in historical accuracy through
cataloguing and making inventories of the furnishings of the White
House. This lady, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, in searching the records, learned
of the Monroe furniture and of its ultimate resting place in the Monroe
shrine, and asked permission to copy it at Government expense, the
copies to be placed in the White House. Permission was g